#vetble

Hii guys, sorry for the brief MIA - I was working on my research project and crying about it for about a week there making edits, and I think it’s good to submit now- it’s not entirely up to the standard I wanted it to be at originally but currently I’m hoping for a pass and I’m just trying not to be too harsh with myself right now.

We’ve been in lockdown for 11 days now in my country and it’s a weird feeling. I know we can make it though, I just feel myself going a little crazy with each passing day.

The lovely LOVELY messages and asks from you guys make me super happy though and I will get back to some of the asks this week I hope <3 feel free to share how you’ve been coping recently!

So there’s really two questions here.

In a robot apocalypse, biosecurity and infections are less of a concern, but basic medicine and keeping humans and our food sources alive are still important, and our vet skills would likely come in handy. We don’t have a lot of anti-robot specific skills in our training, but we still have a decent broad base of skills in the keeping-people-alive department.

Depending on the type of robot apocalypse, though, there are a few extra hazards to consider around the vet clinic. One of them is the Xray machine, which generates decent amounts of radiation, and in increasing numbers of clinics may be connected to the wi-fi. I don’t know specifically what a robot apocalypse might do with that, but I can’t imagine it’s going to do much harm to robots, but it will slowly poison humans.

As for the second question, I don’t really expect to be replaced by a robot any time soon.

Sure, the knowledge, surgical techniques and so on could absolutely be replicated by a machine in the near future, but that’s not all a vet is. There has to be a degree of ‘not freaking out the animal’ and horses are included on the list of animals we need to treat, so such a robot would need to be capable of not freaking out the horse.

Make yourself a cup of tea and take a seat.

So I wrote previously about the health of the German Shepherd, really just skimming over some of the most common issues because there are so many associated with the breed.

Then I made a post comparing a German Shepherd from the 1920s to a recent show champion who happened to display morphological features that have drawn significant criticism lately, namely the hunched back and hocks that touch the ground. And in the interest of fairness, I had picked a historical dog well known in the public eye, and as typical an example as I could find.

Many people will say “Look, I love the dogs but I can’t deny they’re a mess right now.” Other people will make comments like these:

And my personal ‘favourite’…

The simple truth is that in clinical practice I have never seen a German Shepherd dog who has been ‘healthy’ and not afflicted by something regrettable by the time it’s 6. I would call that not good enough. So lets look at these claims.

I did not pick extremes. I picked typical examples, and that should concern you if you care about this breed.

Don’t blame the Back Yard Breeders when it has been the show scene pushing for this extreme conformation and inbreeding. BYBs get their stock originally from ‘ethical’ breeders so the ‘ethical’ breeders can’t be without blame. There are also a whole bunch of breeders who are doing health screening but breeding their dogs regardless of their result to ‘preserve the lines’.

On random shapshot in time doesn’t represent the breed? I’m really sorry but I can’t post images of every single modern shepherd on a tumblr post. However, the evidence is freely available if anyone cares to look. Also, that was the question I was answering.

Breed type continues to change, as we try to change it. There’s not a way dog breeds are ‘supposed to be’, we as humans decided to make one. How about, just for something new, we try to change it with the health of the animal in mind, not to fit an arbitrary shape.

Notice how the last one tries to imply that I’m some kind of ‘rogue’ with my opinions and that they are just opinions, not backed up with a vet degree or years of experience or anything.

I don’t ‘expect people devoted to the breed to constantly bemoan its list of potential problems’, but gee, it would be nice if they actively tried to reduce those problems in their breeding plans. After all, aren’t ethical breeders supposed to be doing so to ‘improve’ the breed?

And while I certainly wont cry a river for a GSD fanatic, I have shed plenty of tears over these dogs.

The outright denial that the breed has a problem has features in common with nationalists (”Ours is the best because it is ours and how dare you question it” vs “I am proud of this thing but acknowledge its flaws and seek to improve it”) and climate change deniers (discrediting evidence, never enough evidence, discrediting the person voicing an opposing view etc). That’s a pretty difficult mix to have a discussion with.

It’s been fairly common since Pedigree Dogs Exposed. As soon as vets started speaking out about the health problems of any given breed, the response would be “But this is what they’re supposed to be” and “What would vets know”

Because, you know, what would vets know about the animals they’re treating every day? If your go-to defense is trying to claim that veterinarians, the profession entirely focused on the scientific improvement of animal health, doesn’t actually know anything about animal health, you have a weak argument.

Cats are clever creatures, and it’s perfectly understandable for them to be wary after their dignity has been assaulted by a medication course. Regaining trust takes time, and there are a few things I do to make this happen.

First, I try to pair up the medication with a special treat. This works well for Wonka because his attentions pan is so short I am easily forgiven, and it means he practically screams for his medication each morning, even though all he really wants is the treat.

During the medication course, I specifically put time aside where I pat and play with the cat and nothing bad happens but I always show the cat my empty hands at the beginning. It doesn’t take them that long to learn empty hands = nothing bad and relax easier. They will learn that the sight of the medication means, but that’s fair and hopefully doesn’t need to last forever.

There are still too many unwanted dogs in society, and the problem is worse in cats. Healthy adult dogs and cats are put down daily in shelters around the country, and so are puppies and kittens on a regular basis. If you raise an unwanted litter to an age where they can be adopted, then they are bot using up resources and potentially taking away homes that other animals, already born and living, could have had.

The dogs and cats already walking around on this Earth need to take priority over the unborn, even if the younger ones are ‘cuter’.

There is an abortion injection available for dogs, but it’s not 100% and has significant risk of causing pyometra, which will endanger the dog. It’s only worth considering if the dog was intended to be bred in the very near future.

Desexing (spay/spey) in early pregnancy has minimal increase risk to the female cat or dog, possibly slightly less than doing it in heat. Desexing in very late pregnancy is more difficult, and from a veterinary medicine standpoint should me treated more like a caesarian with an unfortunate outcome in terms of supporting the patient’s anaesthetic.

Dogs and cats who have been pregnant but not gone through parturition are not ‘expecting’ to have little neonates when they wake up. They don’t seem to have any behavioral change from a pregnant spay.

Unborn puppies and kittens don’t have very much in the way of senses. They want to be kept warm and secure, so once the uterus is out of the patient, the fetuses should be euthanised before the organ gets cold.